I'll be there
by aurora borealis1
Summary: Originally a part of my English finals last year. Short, sweet, and totally L/J. James watches.


A/N: This was originally written as a part of my English finals this year, but after writing it I discovered that with only a few changes it could be a Lily/James story. Since I hadn't planned on writing more on this, I don't have much of a plot for what could happen after this story/chapter, but if many people want me to continue, I'll se what I can do.  
  
Disclaimer: None of the characters you recognise belong to me, but to the all-loved J.K. Rowling. The poem at the beginning is from "Romeo and Juliet", by William Shakespeare.  
  
  
  
  
  
I'll be there, by aurora borealis  
  
  
  
*  
  
  
  
My only love, sprung from my only hate.  
  
  
  
Too early seen unknown, and known too late.  
  
  
  
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,  
  
  
  
That I should love  
  
  
  
A loathed enemy.  
  
  
  
*  
  
  
  
I watch her in class. She notices my stare, and sometimes she turns around and awards me with a glare. She thinks I hate her.  
  
How wrong she is.  
  
  
  
I used to hate her, with her perfect looks and grades.  
  
It didn't matter that *I* was at the top of our class too. It didn't matter that I had received a few hints suggesting that I wasn't particularly ugly myself. What did matter was that *she*, with her deep red hair and strikingly green eyes, didn't even *know* she was pretty. She was little miss Perfect without even being aware of it.  
  
I always denied it, of course. I never stopped complaining about her hair being too red or too long, or her eyes being freaky.  
  
She learned to ignore it with time.  
  
  
  
I don't know when my view of her changed. Gradually the hate turned into disgust, and disgust into indifference. Gradually I stopped complaining about her every move to my friends, and I think they were very relieved. I must have been driving them mad with my babbling.  
  
"Seriously," Sirius said once, "the way you always talk about her one could think you were in love with her!"  
  
I refused to talk to him for a week after that comment.  
  
  
  
I *do* know when I realised I was in love with her. It was at the school ball. I didn't bother bringing a date, even though I got a few offers. I just didn't feel like going around with a girl I didn't even like hanging on my arm.  
  
"You've gone soft," my fellow Animagus declared when I told them. "You've *never* said no to a free snogging feast before."  
  
I shrugged. "I just don't feel like leading them on," I said. My friends gave me some looks clearly stating that I had an alien occupying my body, but they didn't say anything else. I remember that Remus had smiled. Maybe he had realised that at least *one* of his friends was starting to grow up.  
  
Even if he *did* think I was under a spell.  
  
At the ball I didn't do too much. I danced with a couple of the cuter girls, but that was it. After I saw *her*, I didn't want to *do* anything other that watch the dancing from a quiet corner.  
  
She had a tight-fitting green dress that matched her eyes, and her hair was done in a bun that allowed a few fiery, curly tendrils to fall over her pale neck. She was dancing with her friends, smiling and laughing. I had never seen her more beautiful.  
  
I never said anything about it, of course. I didn't ask her to dance with me, but watched with carefully hidden jealousy as she danced with Amos Diggory song after song. If she was the perfect girl, he had to be the perfect boy. At least all the girls thought so. Personally I never understood what they could see in the tall Quidditch captain. Maybe he had looks, but he was lucky if he managed to get a C on a test!  
  
At the end of the ball they announced that they were an item. It wasn't until I was in my dorm that I realised *why* I had been angry when I heard it.  
  
It wasn't the happiest day of my life.  
  
  
  
They are still together. I still love her. I think my friends are starting to get suspicious, but they aren't saying anything yet. And I'm not telling them.  
  
I can't understand why she's with that guy. Everybody knows that he's cheating on her. It seems like she's the only one not aware of it. I watch her all the time, looking for signs that she knows but not finding them. When she finally *does* realize, I'll be there to comfort her.  
  
I'll be there.  
  
  
  
  
  
Reviews would be appreciated. ^_^ 


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